👋 Open Strong

Hey friends —

Hey friends, Here's what I keep noticing: the most resilient people I'm running into right now aren't waiting. Not for permission. Not for a clearer playbook. Not for the dust to settle. They're showing up, to a summit in Madrid, an apprenticeship in Brooklyn, a Tuesday book launch, and figuring it out in motion. That's the muscle this week. Let's build.

🔥 Resilience in the Wild

Forum, formed: Bloomberg Philanthropies and Johns Hopkins just launched the Mayors AI Forum, a global brain trust where mayors of Bogotá, Boston, Buenos Aires, Kyiv, London, Madrid, Nairobi, San Antonio, San Francisco, and Tokyo will help shape how AI gets built and deployed in cities. Practical, not theoretical. → the announcement

Hiring rocket: Bet on humans: While the rest of tech blames AI for killing entry-level jobs, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff just announced he's hiring 1,000 new grads, and challenging other Fortune 500 leaders to do the same. His thesis: AI doesn't kill the entry level. It rewrites what entry-level work looks like. Worth watching who follows. → the announcement

Where I land: The cities and the jobs market are telling the same story. AI policy and AI hiring are no longer separate conversations. Whoever shows up with skills AND ethics gets to write the rules. That's a resilience moment.

🏆 Hero of the Week

Madrid — where 500 + mayors showed up.

This week, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Aspen Institute brought more than 1,000 mayors to Madrid for the 12th Bloomberg CityLab summit. The room felt different than past years. With international alliances under strain, mayors leaned on each other to figure out the things national governments are too gridlocked to solve: AI's impact on local economies, the housing affordability crisis, rising heat, rebuilding public trust.

The headline: the launch of the Mayors AI Forum, in partnership with Johns Hopkins. Ten founding cities — from Kyiv to Nairobi to San Antonio, committing to shape how AI is built rather than wait for it to happen to them. The forum is unusual in design: mayors will work directly with AI companies as tools are designed, not just react after deployment.

The takeaway? Resilient communities don't wait for the cavalry. They become the cavalry — together.

“Mayors get things done. And right now, the world needs us to get things done together.”

— Bloomberg CityLab 2026, Madrid

Read the CityLab recap →

🎤 On the Mic – Resilience is a muscle

Episode 01 — Steve Palmer on Resilience in Business & Life

Steve joins me to unpack what it actually takes to keep going when business — and life — punch back. We get into the moments most leaders edit out of their LinkedIn highlight reels, and what Steve learned from the seasons that almost broke him.

Why “bouncing back” is the wrong metaphor
The single habit Steve credits with surviving his hardest year
How to lead when your team is watching you pretend you're fine

🎧 Listen now →

✍️ From the Blog

AI as Your Best Intern: How We're Working Differently at Nebula Academy

Hot take: AI isn't replacing your team — it's working for them. At Nebula, we stopped asking “what can AI do?” and started asking “what can my team do that AI can't?” The shift changed everything. (Hint: it's not about automation. It's about leverage.)

Keep reading →

📖 Muscle Memory — The Book Is Live!

Resilience is a Muscle officially launched last week. It's in the wild — Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and your nearest indie bookstore.